Feeling like a quicker, digital version of the likes of Exceed, Death or Glory is a well put together card driven fighter.
Having played a lot of fighting games on tabletop and in video game form, it’s quite surprising how many video game fighters make it to the table whilst so few make the transition the other way. Distilled Gaming Company has created something that fits that bill rather nicely though in the form of Death or Glory. I’ve been playing a few rounds with it recently and even got the chance to have a chat with developer Roy Loh about the game’s origins and future.
Speaking to Roy, Death or Glory is a result of his love of card games as a younger man as well as his interest in Hong Kong cinema and comic books. In our conversation, he told me that he would come home from playing card games with friends and try to recreate them from memory. Growing up, he would enjoy the likes of Magic: The Gathering and Street Fighter which were significant influences on what Death or Glory would become.
This shows as well, with a cast of interesting characters to choose from, many of whom have different playstyles that are implemented in unique ways. Warriors hit hard but have to manage action points that limit their attack and defence options each round, whilst Tech characters need to deal with ammo that needs replenishing before they can use powerful cards again. Even within classes there’s variation, with vampire Ardelean focused more on game control whilst werewolf Redeye is more into burst damage to win battles quickly. There’s a lot of variety, and you’ll likely want to give each class a try before settling on your main character.
Being a free to play game means that you won’t have access to all the characters out of the gate, being limited to a couple of picks out of the whole roster. You can play around with each in practice matches before settling on your choice, but after that you’ll need to earn diamonds in game or purchase them with real money to unlock any further options. This can be quite an egregious practice, but you earn diamonds at a reasonable pace here, and you’ll likely have enough to pick a new one after a dozen matches or so.
As mentioned, Roy described Hong Kong cinema as being a significant influence, wanting to replicate an almost three-act structure to fights, with characters initially feeling out each other’s moves, before going on the offensive and finally going for a big haymaker to finish the fight. That really does come across in game too, as initially most characters I’ve played as or faced can’t throw out big hits early, but instead need to build up whatever their playstyle is to then unleash something more powerful. Early exchanges feature a lot of thrust and parry until someone starts to gain the upper hand. That isn’t to say that the fight is all but over at that point though, as often you’ll be able to find a way back in if only you can find an opening to play one of your most effective cards. With each deck being limited to fifteen cards, you’ll probably be able to rely on something useful coming up every round.
Gameplay itself is quite simple at first glance, with depth being provided by figuring out effective card synergies. Cards have a speed, as well as an attack or defence value. Attack cards do damage, and defence ones block it as you’d expect, but speed is a key factor here too. You can block a fast attack with a slow defence card, but you’ll have to discard a card from your hand, whilst a fast defence card will allow you to draw a card instead. You really do need to think about when to play these cards too, as each turn you only get to draw a couple from your deck. If you over extend yourself too early you may end up with an empty hand when you need it most.
Many cards come with keywords that give additional effects. Bleed damage, life steal, and resource generation, amongst others, are present as you might expect from a fighting card game. Utilising these at the right time is a big help as you might expect. I did find that life steal could elongate matches far more than I’d like. Playing online with a deck stacked with this effect against someone with a similar deck can really drag on. It’s a rarity in my experience though, but I can see that being a frustration for some.
As you play with your chosen character, you’ll gain experience points that unlock new cards meaning you can customise your deck. I liked this element as you could get used to a play style for a few matches before tweaking to lean into whatever character feature you’d most like to exploit. For me, I wanted as many ways to draw more cards as I could so I would always have options.
The bulk of Death or Glory is a PvP online game, with you fighting opponents to rank up and receive more rewards in the form of diamonds and cosmetics. Matches take around ten minutes and are really enjoyable back-and-forths, especially with opponents of a similar skill level. There’s a solo adventure mode available too, playing with a Slay the Spire style roguelike map for you to find chests and choose which enemy you face. All of these modes feature achievements and daily goals to score more diamonds for future unlocks. It’s a good thing too, as if you end up not liking a character you’ve unlocked, you’ll be stuck with them until you earn enough to purchase another one. It pays to tinker in the practice mode before locking in your choice as there’s no going back.
Characters are well drawn, with a clear overarching art style that I appreciated. Roy points out that his favourite character Lee was a simple starting point, clearly inspired by the likes of Bruce Lee, and from there future characters became more and more elaborate in both gameplay and artistic design. Everything looks quite impressive, and whilst animations are limited, the art quality is absolutely there. There’s a solid soundtrack as well, but you’ll be hearing the same tracks and awful lot. A little more variety here would be appreciated.
Death or Glory is a solid one-on-one card battler that I could very much see working on the tabletop as much as in the digital space. Roy has mentioned that the cost of producing and distributing a physical game was a factor in leaning towards a video game release, and I’m quite happy either way. This is an easy to get into but hard to master game that will likely have a fairly long tail as more characters are released. With each character having a back story and there supposedly being a ready to go game world behind the scenes, there’s a lot of scope for this as a franchise. I’ll be dipping back in here and there to try out new characters and features as they are released.
Death of Glory is available now on PC.
